President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks at Ellicott Dredges in Baltimore, Friday, May 17, 2013, during his second "Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour". Associated Press Photo

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - It’s been a stormy week for President Barack Obama, and the swirling controversies could wreck his second-term agenda.

The Internal Revenue Service has admitted that it improperly singled out conservative groups, including those with “Tea Party” or “patriot” in their names, for greater scrutiny.

That was followed by news that the Justice Department had secretly obtained two months of phone records from Associated Press reporters.

The revelations have been enough to get the words “Nixonian” and “Watergate” back into Internet circulation, never a good thing for a president.

They’ve also added heat to the simmering controversy over how the administration handled the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi last Sept. 11.

Amid recent whistle-blower hearings, it was reported that the State Department had pushed for revisions to the talking points about the attack in a bid to downplay connections to terrorism.

Lurking on a lower tier is a controversy over how Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius raised millions of dollars to promote Obamacare.

Bottom line: It’s made for some big-time headaches for Obama, throwing the White House off stride on immigration reform and other issues. And it will only get worse when congressional hearings, particularly in the GOP-controlled House, get cranked up.

Obama said the IRS behavior would not be tolerated, but he brushed off the Benghazi controversy as a “sideshow.” He said he would “offer no apologies” on the AP controversy because national security was involved.

Call it the second-term blues. It’s just what the Republican needed after last November’s drubbing, but with their own internal schisms, can they even take advantage?

And the damage could go beyond the current White House tar Hillary Clinton, who Secretary of State when Benghazi happened and is the Democrats’ top hope for holding the presidency after Obama.

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) said that Obama’s legacy will be “tarnished by scandal after scandal.”

He said Obama’s administration had “covered up the facts” in Benghazi, and continues to blame Republicans for politicizing the issue; was slow to react to the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups, and had denied knowledge of the Justice Department’s AP action.

“Instead of a legacy of ‘hope and change,’ President Obama will be known for bringing Chicago-style politics to the White House,” Grimm said. “The most ‘transparent administration in history’ is actually the most secretive, deceptive and divisive we’ve seen in modern times.”

He said the administration “has misled the American people one too many times, and it’s time it is held accountable.”

But state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore) said that the controversies won’t “make that much of a difference” when it comes to Obama pushing his second-term agenda.

“Whatever’s going to stall his agenda is going to be set by a recalcitrant Congress,” she said. “Now they just have an excuse … The polarization in Washington is the real problem. People are failing to do what they were elected to do.”

She said, “The people who don’t like Obama will use this as a justification. The people who do like him have to get over the fact that he doesn’t walk on water.”

Ms. Savino also scoffed at any mention of Nixon and Watergate.

“The people who are throwing around Nixon’s name are Republicans,” she said. “How about that?”

Richard Flanagan, political science professor at the College of Staten Island, said the controversies wouldn’t be fatal to Obama, but would make for more Washington gridlock.

“I think he’ll be insulated from this,” Flanagan said. “Some heads will roll, a White House staffer may take the fall on those talking points. Some IRS people might be flushed down the drain.”

He said that the controversies, coupled with existing disagreements with Republicans, will stall any progress on tax or immigration reform.

“It’s looking like George Bush’s second term,” Flanagan said. “Obama should start packing it up now. It’s amazing how these second terms work out.”